


Lies of a Cursed Child

by NeonFrost



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Dark Magic, Death Eaters, F/M, Falsely Accused, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Head Auror Harry Potter, M/M, Minister for Magic Hermione Granger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26461966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeonFrost/pseuds/NeonFrost
Summary: Two years on from the tragedy, an article written by Rita Skeeter causes havoc for everyone as she delves deeper into the death of Craig Bowker Junior, the incarceration of his murderer and the details left out of the ministry's statement. Having uncovered evidence to suggest the involvement of Albus and Scorpius with Delphini she poses the question: what was the ministry hiding that night and who were they protecting? If the boys were so innocent, why not tell the whole story to begin with? Of course, being Rita Skeeter means not waiting for answers: she already has her own ideas of what's going on behind closed doors and the public deserves to know the truth.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Other(s), Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	Lies of a Cursed Child

**Author's Note:**

> Just a taster of an idea I have. If there's interest, I'll try and get an upload schedule together, otherwise it'll be a slow burner. I would anticipate the post-prologue chapters to be around 3-5k words and will follow 3 distinct narratives: Albus Potter, Harry & Hermione. I like to think of it as "Scorbus+"

Prologue

“ _Harry Potter and the Cursed Child  
By Rita Skeeter_

_New evidence of a crime committed has come to light and has placed the minister for magic herself at the heart of its concealment. Hermione Granger-Weasley, 48, arose to power after her admittedly commendable work in the Department for the ‘Understanding and Welfare’ of Magical Creatures (for my more conservative readers this is the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures which our illustrious leader had ‘rebranded' to reflect her avant-garde agenda). There is not a stitch about our current minister that is not controversial from the suspicious circumstances surrounding her initial election to her history of silencing the press (from which I have personally suffered, for full details, see the timeline on page 6). Having uncovered the evidence which I now dearly possess, I would endorse any cries for an investigation into the minister's fitness to practice. However, as appropriate this action may be, the scoundrel in our most esteemed seat of government has the gluttonous Department of Magical Law kept fat on the crumbs of nepotism._

_Harry Potter, 42, has been the Head of Magical Law Enforcement for as long as I have been retired (simply a coincidence, I wonder? Again, see page 6 for a full timeline of media silencing by the Granger-Weasley cabinet). In this time, Potter has personally incarcerated a total of two dangerous wizards – and ‘dangerous’ is being generous – but he has successfully (again) managed to divert the public’s rightfully enquiring minds away from the disarray of his professional and personal life (his wife, Ginevra Potter, 57, has a history of threatening the media). It is no secret that Granger-Weasley and Potter were involved during their time at Hogwarts until Granger-Weasley’s all-consuming hunger for celebrity displaced a young Harry Potter in preference of the then Seeker of the National Bulgarian Quidditch team, and marginally more famous, Viktor Krum (unavailable for statement at the time of writing). The pair of charlatans have been inseparable since reaching the peaks of their careers and, knowing what I now know, that leaves a humble old reporter wondering – for how long has our government been lying to us…”_

Hermione furiously mouthed the words as she read them, from behind the desk in her office. Forty-eight? She was forty-two and she looked good or so everyone was telling her with increasing frequency, “for her age.” Needless to say, that was not the source of her anger but it pained her to admit that it had stung like Doxy venom. Her fingers wove into her curly brown hair as she finished reading the article. It was not good. She rummaged in the drawer beneath her desk and withdrew a box of toffees she had stashed away for emergencies like this, Ron would have to forgive her for breaking their commitment to going sugar-free for the rest of the month.

“Mrs Granger-Weasley?” a voice followed a gentle knock at the door. Busted, she thought, as her husband peeled out of the corridor and into her office, catching her red-handed with a face full of toffees. He eyed the half empty box in his wife's hand before grinning and producing an identical box from behind his back. “I figured you might need a pick-me-up when I saw the headline on the way to work.”

“Oh Ron,” chewed Hermione, vindictively, “it’s awful. The things she’s saying about me are loathsome enough, but it’s the sort of scrutiny I’m used to. It’s what she’s said about little Albus, Ron; Harry will be furious.”

Ron set down the sweets he had brought his wife as he moved around her desk to rub her shoulders. She leaned into the welcome touch. “Don’t stress about it, Hermione,” said Ron, “she’s full of shit. She’s never been able to back up a single claim in her whole career. What makes you think this one’s any different?”

“I don’t know, Ron,” she replied, pensively rubbing her temples as she tried to come up with a solution. “Aside from the terrible feeling I have in my gut, I’m fairly certain I know her source. I just hope I’m wrong or there will be more to worry about than some sour headlines. You don’t need to go back to work this afternoon, do you?”

“No,” replied Ron, dutifully, “George is planning on hanging around the shop all day so I’m all yours.”

“Good,” replied Hermione, “do you suppose your patronus is still in good form?”

***

_“…Cast your mind back to the year before last, dear reader, and be transported to an extraordinary time for wizard kind. Samson Welding had just rewritten the standard of magical vanity by crafting the world's most entrancing enchanted mirror; it was the year Woolly Clatterand received his Order of Merlin Upper Second Class, making history breeding the remarkably underrated water-resistent flaming salamander; and Scotland had seen their first quidditch world cup quarter final in over a century. It was truly a wonderous time to be a witch or wizard in Britain – OR SO IT SEEMED. It is with deepest sympathy, dear reader, that I must inform you of a scandal so deplorable that it has warranted my dutiful return to the press, disturbing a decade of tranquil retirement for this humble old servant of the truth._

_Two years ago, it pains me to remind you, a young man named Craig Bowker Junior met an untimely end within the grounds of Hogwarts, at the hand of a deranged woman named Delphini who claims to be the daughter of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (although this remains to be proven). This woman – who also happens to be one of Potter’s two personal captures in a decade - was apprehended and incarcerated in Azkaban with no public record of a trial. In its place, a watered-down statement was filtered through the Ministry (i.e. Granger-Weasley and Potter) detailing this. A criminal was captured, and all is well, right? Wrong. It is in the ‘details’ of this statement where our power-swollen leaders have failed us. Why were the Granger-Weasleys and the Potters at Hogwarts the night of the murder? Why would the alleged daughter of Potter’s greatest enemy target an unrelated child when Potter himself, at the time, had three children in attendance at the school? Why was Draco Malfoy, 42, single, present during this statement when it is known he opposes the Granger-Weasley cabinet? What does all this have to do with Potter's youngest son? The short answer: daylight subterfuge!_

_For years now, eyewitnesses from that night have been coming forward, begging me to tell their story and, until now, I have consistently declined for fear of the minister’s wrath. BUT I WILL BE SILENT NO LONGER! It is common knowledge that there were high tensions in the Potter household during that time. It is not, I assume, common knowledge that Potter’s son, Albus Severus Potter (unfortunately named for the man’s childhood abusers), now 16, was absent from school and unaccounted for in the days counting down to the death of his classmate. One student interviewed described the boys’ relationship as ‘hostile’ and suggested that there would have been motive for the young Potter to harm Bowker Jnr. Also missing, that night, was Scorpius Malfoy, now 16, who was rumoured, for a while, to be the heir of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (disproved). The two schoolboys (currently in attendance at Hogwarts, Year 6) have been inseparable since they met (to their fathers’ displeasure, I would bet) and it is likely that they are in some sort of romantic engagement with each other (unconfirmed but highly suggested by my source). It has also been suggested by eyewitnesses that Potter, upon discovering the secret liaisons of his homosexual son, insisted upon separating the star-crossed lovers. Perhaps this is what drove them to the comforting bosom of a self-proclaimed descendant of death and destruction...”_

“Romantic Engagement?” quoted Albus angrily. “‘Secret liaisons of his homosexual son?!’ ‘STAR-CROSSED LOVERS?!’” he aggressively balled up the newspaper, threw it at the castle wall and then gave it a kick for good measure. “Who does she think she is?”

“I feel like you might have somewhat overlooked the part where she suggests that we are Death Eaters or that you murdered our classmate,” said Scorpius chewing his lower lip as Albus aimed another kick at the offensive paper which was now unravelling on the stone pathway at his feet, sending pages flying in all directions.

“Nobody would believe that,” spat Albus, he stomped on the ground furiously once more before hoisting himself up into the archway, one of many framing the perimeter of the quiet courtyard, beside Scorpius. Albus was trembling with anger.

“But you think people would believe we are in a relationship? And that’s what you’re concerned about?” mused Scorpius, raising his eyebrow. Albus shrugged moodily and crossed his arms over his chest before shouting at a pair of passing first-year boys who had stopped just out of earshot to whisper about them. They did not linger for Albus looked very likely to follow through on his promise to curse them if they did not move on. “I think cursing twelve-year-olds is probably a good way of looking like a Death Eater, Albus.”

“Hilarious!” retorted Albus, sliding his wand back into his pocket. The wood had been hot to the touch from his anger and seared quietly into his thigh, as if egging him on to use it. “Doesn’t this bother you Scorpius?” He asked after taking a moment to calm down. “Don’t you care what people think? Don’t you care what _Rose_ might think?”

“Again,” sighed Scorpius, “I think you’re missing the bigger picture. All my life: I’m used to people whispering that I’m some dark wizard. Then it stops for a while and people treat me like a normal human. And now people think I’m a dark wizard again. It’s exhausting but, you have to admit, we put ourselves in this position getting involved with Delphi in the first place.”

“No,” replied Albus, “I put us in this position. I put you in this position. It was all me. You warned me a million times about getting in over my head and I ignored you. Our parents should have just been open about me being an idiot and then your name wouldn’t be all over the Daily Prophet and the world wouldn’t think we’re – what did she say – ‘having secret liaisons.’”

“Well they’ve certainly been a secret to me,” laughed Scorpius, “if we’ve been having them. Or maybe they were just boring, and I forgot them.”

“Shut your mouth, Malfoy,” grinned Albus, “a ‘liaison' with me would be unforgettable and you know it,” he paused, “and if I were sneaking about with someone, why would it be you anyway?” Scorpius’s mouth fell open in protest. “You’re not even in the top 50.”

“You can’t be serious,” replied Scorpius indignantly. “I’m not even top 50? That would mean every boy in our year would be above me. Surely I rank above Lawrence Chaney?” Albus shrugged and looked away. “What’s Lawrence Chaney got that I haven’t?” demanded Scorpius sincerely, pride wounded and all joking firmly aside.

“A girlfriend,” snorted Albus. “Why so serious, Scorpius? Feeling underappreciated all of a sudden? Don’t worry, if there really was a top 50, I’m sure you would be on it. Sadly, I’m too busy failing all my classes and, according to the Prophet, plotting to murder my friends to have a list.”

“You bet I’d be on it,” muttered Scorpius, hugging one knee to his chest as he contemplated the repercussions that were bound to follow Skeeter’s story. He truly was not concerned if the country speculated the nature of his relationship with Albus; but he was certain that there would be real consequences for the ministry when the public found out that they had been instrumental in Delphini’s plans to revive He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Would they be tried as Death Eaters? His family history would not give their story a strong foundation against such a claim if the media were to suggest it and, from what Scorpius knew of Rita Skeeter, she was unlikely to stop short of any accusation that would sell.

“Scorpius,” said Albus, pulling his friend from the depths of his thoughts with a hand to the shoulder, the atmosphere suddenly weighty once more, “there’s no point worrying about it now. It’s out there and we’re going to have to just face it. Rita Skeeter is hardly a credible source, even if she’s in the prophet again. Not to mention the truth is more likely than the alternative, isn’t it?”

“The truth?” replied Scorpius. “The truth that we went back in time, because a random woman told us to, intent on saving a man who died thirty years ago because you fell out with your dad and felt guilty and then inadvertently changed the course of history – three times by the way – so that the worst dark wizard that ever lived was never killed?” He licked his dry lips nervously. “Or does it sound more likely that we got rebellious and ended up willingly involved with a dark wizard? ‘Cause it seems to me that it would be much easier for people to get their head around the second story. Let’s face it, most people think my family are still up to our eyes in the dark arts – it would hardly be much of a stretch would it? I wonder if they have a library in Azkaban.”

“Scorpius,” mumbled Albus, finally taking in the full extent of his best friend’s concern, “people just have to look at you to know there’s not a bad bone in your entire body,” he said, wracking his brain for any other logical conclusion that could follow but there was none. He was right: it would be too easy to paint their story red. “Let’s wait and see what our parents say. I’m sure they’ll be able to sort it all out,” he paused then, breaking the tension, continued, “or we could just go back in time and undo it all. Maybe bring Dracula back this time.”

“We agreed not to make that stupid joke anymore,” replied Scorpius grinning.

“Yeah, well, I’m not very clever,” replied Albus. “I told you, I’m failing everything.”


End file.
